Západočeská Univerzita V Plzni Fakulta Filozofická
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ZÁPADOČESKÁ UNIVERZITA V PLZNI FAKULTA FILOZOFICKÁ Bakalářská práce History of Performance Art in American context and its interpretation in Mass Media Andrea Hrabáková Plzeň 2017 ZÁPADOČESKÁ UNIVERZITA V PLZNI FAKULTA FILOZOFICKÁ Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury Studijní program Filologie Studijní obor Cizí jazyky pro komerční praxi angličtina – němčina Bakalářská práce History of Performance Art in American context and its interpretation in Mass Media Andrea Hrabáková Vedoucí práce Ing. et BcA. Milan Kohout Plzeň 2017 Čestné prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem svou bakalářskou práci na téma „History of Performance Art in American context and its interpretation in Mass Media“ vypracovala samostatně za použití pramenů uvedených v přiložené bibliografii. V Plzni, dne …………… …………………………… Andrea Hrabáková Acknowledgements The author appreciates the cooperation with Milan Kohout and his long-standing experience with performance art providing to the author as a supervisor. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 2. Performance art ............................................................................................................. 2 2.1 What is performance art .......................................................................................... 2 2.2 Performance art and performing arts ...................................................................... 2 2.3 Performance art and conceptual art ........................................................................ 4 2.4 Main attributes of performance art ......................................................................... 4 3. The history of performance art ..................................................................................... 8 3.1 From prehistory to the present ................................................................................ 8 3.2 Europe: the 1st half of the 20th century .................................................................... 9 3.3 The USA: the 1st half of the 20th century .............................................................. 12 3.4 Europe: the 1950s – the 1960s .............................................................................. 13 3.5 The USA: the 1950s – the 1960s .......................................................................... 15 3.6 The USA: the 1970s .............................................................................................. 17 3.7 The USA: the 1980s .............................................................................................. 19 3.8 The USA: the 1990s .............................................................................................. 20 3.9 The USA: New Millennium .................................................................................. 21 4. Performance art today ................................................................................................. 23 4.1 Performance art and its interpretation in mass media ........................................... 23 4.2 Questionnaire ........................................................................................................ 24 5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 33 6. Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 34 4.1 Books .................................................................................................................... 34 4.2 Electronic sources ................................................................................................. 34 4.3 Sources of pictures in appendix ............................................................................ 36 8. Abstract ....................................................................................................................... 38 9. Resumé ........................................................................................................................ 39 10. Appendix ................................................................................................................... 40 1.1 Pictures to the questionnaire ................................................................................. 40 1. Introduction The present thesis is aimed at performance art and its history in American context. It consists of two main parts, theoretical and practical. The theoretical part is structured in two main chapters; chapter 2 (Performance art) and chapter 3 (The history of performance art). The chapters are divided into several subchapters, designed to provide the reader with a sufficient amount of theoretical information about performance art, its attributes and also about its historical background related not only to the USA but partly to Europe due to their direct historical connection in this field. The practical part of the thesis comprises chapter 4 (Performance art today), releasing graphically depicted results of questionnaire focused on perception of performance art by the general public in the Czech Republic. The main objective of the thesis is to acquaint the reader with the issue of performance art from historical perspective and to mediate the reader the results of the questionnaire which releases updated information about the relation of the general public to performance art. The bachelor’s thesis may therefore be a contribution to conception of performance art and its objective understanding. To name the most helpful sources for the present thesis, then it is to be mentioned a book written by RoseLee Goldberg – ‘Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present’ one of the first publications dealing with the issue of performance art, or a book by Tracey Warr and Amelia Jones – ‘The artist’s Body’ full of pictures and photographs of performances which helped the author to construct the idea about particular artists. The most helpful electronic sources were websites of reputable museums – American MoMa and British Tate. The theme was chosen on the grounds of the author’s interest in arts. 1 2. Performance art 2.1 What is performance art Several attempts were made to define performance art. MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, describes performance art as follows: “In performance art, the artist’s medium is the body, and the live actions he or she performs are the work of art. The term, used loosely at first, arose in the early 1960s as American practitioners sought a way to refer to and describe the many live events taking place at that time. Performance art usually consists of four elements: time, space, the performer’s body, and a relationship between audience and performer. Traditionally, the work is interdisciplinary, employing some other kind of visual art, video, sound, or props. Although performance art takes the form of live action, it has reached a large public audience through documentation of the performance.” (MoMA [US], © 2017) Based on the author’s research the definition appears to be the most suitable for introduction and purposes of the first chapter. Yet, the definition might not be satisfactory for those, who are looking for a comprehensive idea about performance art. The definition is therefore followed by detailed description of its “objectives” and various forms of performance art, designed to gain complex idea, what performance art is. 2.2 Performance art and performing arts In English, the term performance art is repeatedly mistaken for almost identical one – performing arts. They are, however, not interchangeable. For illustrative purposes of this issue, the selection of the most frequently mentioned differences between performance art and performing arts are discussed below. 2 Space Traditionally, performing arts incorporate theater, music and dance. In contrast to that, performance art could be understood as a multidisciplinary phenomenon, encompassing various fields and techniques deploying them in any combination - theater, music, dance, literature, poetry, architecture and painting, as well as video, film, slides and narrative (Goldberg 2011). From this perspective, performance art seems to be more similar to the alternative forms of theater, music and dance, which tend to be multidisciplinary as performance art (Arts Lexicon). Moreover, performance art is sometimes understood as an extension of fine arts. Based on this assumption, performance art is more closely connected to painting. Studied at the conservatories, performing arts belong rather to traditional scene, such as theaters and concert halls (Acting Coach Scotland). Performance art, on the contrary, is performed in galleries with contemporary art, Tate (a British network of four art museums) and MoMA (The Museum of Modern Art in New York City) as an example. Nonetheless, as a result of an anarchistic expression of the believe that all art exhibited in the museums is “dead” at the beginning of the 20th century, performance art can appear de facto anywhere. Narrative Unlike performing arts, by which the content is usually scripted and performed in a form of a narrative, performance art is often unscripted and narration is not used. Approach to Body Using of the body as a medium can be regarded as mutual attribute. In both, performance is usually a physically and mentally demanding activity. In performing arts, a story expressed by a body is traditionally the most important element. However,